Rail-joint.



E. E. SLICK.

RAIL JOINT. `APPLIGA'IION FILED MARN, 1913.

Patented Nov. 11, 1913.

2 SHEBTMSHBET 1 E. E.' SLICK.

RAIL JOINT.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 13, 1913.

1,078,220, Patented N0v.11, 1913.

2 HEETS-SHEET 2.

IN V EN TOR.

To all whom 'it may concern.'

` citizen tf the United f TEDr srATEs PATENT l J nnwnr' n. stron, or wnsnrom Donovan,- r:einensirrn'riAjj-l;

specimen; of reim-i resent.

Be it known that I` EDWIN E. Smelt, a States, residing in the borough of Westmont, in the county off Cambria and State of Penns lvania, have invented certain new and use ul `Improvements in Rail-Joints; andI dohereby dei `clare lthe following to be a full,'clear,`and

exact description of the invention, such as` will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same..

- My invention consists generally of an 1mproved joint for the abutting ends of rail road rails which is well adapted to maintain the rails in alined position, both vertically and laterally, and to provide a junctionI which is uninterrupted of substantially the same strength and elasticity as thejbo-dy or intermediate portion of .said rail, all of which 'conduces toa smooth or easy-riding track.` A

Although my joint is adapted" to, and

may be used with, rails of diii'erent forms and sections, I will, for the purpose of simplifying the present description, confine the `specification and drawings to its use in connection with T-rails.

In my improved rail joint, the outer sides of the heads of the ends of the 'abutting rails are cut away for a short distance, the direction ofthe cut immediatelyadjoining the rail ends, being preferably substantially parallel to and Ia prolongation of the outer surface of the rail web, the-width of the cut in each rail head merging ordiminishing laterally, gradually in a concave curved-form until its surface intersects the outer lateral surface of the rail head. v

By the outer surfaces of the rail head, I mean those on the outside ofthe track, as distinguished from the inner surfaces of the rail head, which are on the inside' or what is known as the ga e side of the track. The outer surfaces of t e head of the rail are, therefore, that portion which does not contact with the flanges of the wheels, or the means of their anges. This cut inthe rall heads, previously mentioned, may readily be madeby means of a milling cutter of cylindrical outline, the axis of which is substantially parallel to a line passing vertically ginni-ng at the end o 4 -ing 1t 1n a direction parallel to its axis, the

.-rail. i

throughlthe center rail web, and this 'cut mths rail head 1s preferably made by'bethe .rail and travers- 1 4finishing curve being formed'by thelcircum- -ferential shape and the movement of said cutter. I ma ,'however, make the cut inthe rail 'headqn any other 1 manner or form, by planing, slotting, forgingor otherwise, as ma be found expedient or necessary. y

n the outer side of the rail I provide a spllce bar of peculiar conformation, the extending fend portions 'of the preferred form of which are adapted to lit in what are -known as Athe fishing angles, that is, underneath the rail head and on 'top lof thevrail base Han es, and I-provide a clearance or Famed Noi '1.1419132 distance etween said outer splice bar and i the rail web to allow it to be drawn up and tightened and thereby make a rigid joint,

and also thus provide for wear vof the contact surfaces.` The central or intermediate part of my splice bar is provided *with an upwardly' extendingl port-ion which is adapted to fit within the cuts ,formed in the outer sides of the rail heads, as previcusly mentioned,th e form of- 4this upwardly projecting section o lthe rail hea is restored by this projection, so that at the joint the sha' e and form of the rail headva're substantial y the same as that of the head oigan uncut On the inner or gage side ofthe joint I provide an an le barfwhich maybe of the usual shape o such constructions, and my splice bars may be held in place by bolts as usual, or otherwise, as deslred.

My improvedv rail joint is so designed that the section of the rail tread at the joint is substantially as elsewhere, while the central ortion of the o-uter splice bar provides a ridge which enables the car kwheels to pass over the: joint or space betweenthe abutting ends of the rail without jar, andthe entlre joint is so proportioned as to have, as ,near as may be, the same strength and'elasticity as the unbroken rail, thereby causing no undue defiection or jar at the joint, which is a desideraturn.

In order that the rail head portion' of my outer splice bar may best serve its purpose,

I- prefer te form said s lice bar of hard. and tough steel material ue to high carbonv vcontent or otherwise, or of approximatelyv the same composition and physical qualities portion bein' suchthat thecross i as the rail head itself, or, I may even make it somewhat harder, tougher and more elasticv by heat treatment, that is, by heating the' bars to the required temperature, quenching and annealing them in oil or other media.

Having thus given this general description of my invention, I will now, in order to make the matter more clear, refer to the annexed two sheets of drawings which form part of this specification and in which like characters of reference indicate like parts Figure 1 is a top plan view shwing the abutting 'ends of two T-rails,. each cut out on the outer side of the head, also showing the head portion of my outer splice bar fitting within said cuts. Fig. 2 is an outside elevation corresponding to Fig. 1 showing my outer splice bar in connection with the abutting ends of the rails; Fig. 3 is an end elevation of my ,improved outer splice bar showing in dotted lines the shape of one style "of the upper portion of the rolled bar before it' is cut, formed and finished into the shape shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 4 is a vert1cal transverse sectional elevation taken on the line IVIV of Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is azvertical transverse section of one form of rollcd'bar of metal from which my improved ,jsmplice bar may be made. Fig. 6 is a front', elevation of vmy improved outer 'splice bar showing the portions to be sheared from 'the upper flange in curved cuts as indicat'eillby the dotted lines. Fig. 7 is a top plavi'w of my improved outer splice bar showing similarly by dotted lines, the portions to be sheared or cut therefrom to producethe finished form. Fig. 8 is a top plan viewof my outerv splice bar in one of its completedl forms. Fig. 9 is a perspective 'illustration lof my improved outer splice bar looking at the inner portion thereof.

Fig. 10 is a vertical transverse section through'the head of a rail and my improved out'ersplice bar taken on the line X-X 0f Fig. 1, this figure also showing in dotted lines'the outline of a worn car 4wheel in position on the rail whilepassing over my improved joint. Fig. 11 is a planview of my improved outer splice bar, the central portion of 'which is shown as straight in plan to fit within the corresponding cuts in the i rail head, while tn'e outer portions of said splice bar are curved asindicated to allow said curved por-tions to be drawn into position in the fishing angles of the rails, by means of the o'uter pairs of bolts, in order to make a articularly 'tight and secure joint, or t0 a low the same to be drawn up from time to time to provide for wear of the contact surfaces. Those ortions of the splice bar illustrated in Flg. 11 which fit under the rail head and 0n top of the base fiange of the rail should preferably be formed in such shape that they will contact ture and other conditions.

with the same when the splice bar is first put in place, leaving the additional movement, when screwed up farther, to more firmly wedge the bar within the fishing angle of the rail.

Referring now to the various characters 0f reference on the drawings :l represents the end-of a T-rail in place in lthe track; 2 represents the end of the abutting T-rail; 3 3 re resent the cut-out portions of the outer en s of the rail heads; 4 4 are the concaved or curved limits of said cutout portions; 5 represents the usual space between the meeting ends of the rails, which is greater or less, dependent upon tempera- The head of the rail is represented as 6, the web as 7, the base flanges as 8, the inclined under surfaces of the rail head are 9, the inclined upper surface of the base fianges of the rail are 10, 9 and 10 forming the fishing angles; the holes in the rail webs are indicated at 11, which holes are'of slightly larger diameter than the bolts which fit within the same, in order to allow for expansion and contraction of the track.

12 represents my outside splicebar in gen` eral; 18 is t-he inside splice bar shown as an angle splice bar; 111 is the upper flange of the outer splice bar showing one form in which it is rolled, as particularly shown in Figs. 3 and 5. I may, however, first roll the bar of section different from that shown in Fig. 3, and then form it into the finished shape by forging, upsetting, swaging and like operations.

15 is an upper inwardly projecting rib of the splice bar adapted to contact with thc lower inclined surface of the rail head and thereby support it; 16 is the web portion of my outer splice bar; 17 is an inwardly projecting lower rib adapted to contact with the inner part of the base flange of the rail, this portion 17 thus acting iii-conjunction with the rib 15 to wedge the splice bar in the fishing angle of -the rail and form a tight and efficient joint.

18 is the lower inclined ianged portion of my outer splice bar; and 19 is the inclined lower surface of the same adapted to iit on and contact with t-he upper surface of the base flange of the rail.

The central or head portion of my improved splice bar is represented as 21 and as particularly shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4, this portion 21 is of a cross section, substantially similar to the outer portion of therail head and when fitted iu the cuts 3 and 4 of the said rail head, it practically restores the same toits original section.

In order to form my bar it may be first rolled of the cross section shown in Fig. 5, with parallel sides, and after it is cut into lengt-hs, the portions 20 are sheared therefrom on the curved lines indicated in Figs.

6 f andI 7 inl order'l to -pfroduce 1 the finishedI lafcomieet'therewitlr and'm'erge intothe other p ?rl'ti.)ris,f asshowny are f indicated I at 23':

The# of this: :portioni 23 isf made -on a gradualfffcurve softhat -the'bar atfno place hasfabrupt notches" or,r changes' of section,-

which lcondfuces to -its strength, elasticity Aand durability: Asthe flange= llt'lis cutf awayl from ther end portions ofthebar and formed l into the shapes shown as 23,th'eslope of' this- -cur-ved f portion x23'is :such that .no part gwofit carrcome incontactwith any part of' a lwheell f tread; even though'E awheelshould be-worn"to\the'limit, as indicatedin Fig 10." In order to allow room-for tightening my .outer splicel barl 25a-into place,l either-'at its-'first application, or

afterward; to allow' for the-wear of the lishing suraee`sl and forcontraction and expansion, I provide a slight distance or-'clearanoefbetween'the upper port-ion yof my outer smsplicebar and thehead ortions of the rai-1s, as indicated at 24.- T e portions of the upper flange of -my outer splice bar'which project outwardly to the-greatest extent arevindicated at-25,-but these areso arranged and nlocated that they will not-,under any conditions, touch-1 a --wheel' tread which' passes over them, even though said wheel tread is badly worn as indicated-in'Fig;A 10. The

upper surface of 'theportiorrof myouter .mysplice barwhichts under'therail head, -is- 27 are holes in theindicated at126, while webs of the splice bars, in=which areinserted 'the bolts-28, provided: with'the nuts 29 and theI sp1-in washers 30.- 4m- As showninig.- 10, the dottedline-31 indicates the outline of a car wheeliwhiohl has beenfworn to the` permissible limit of wear,according to accepted standards, and it will Y.beseen that t-he outer amprojectingiv portions 32 ofsaid car wheel can in no manner touch the iiange portions of my outer splice bar, and the portion of my joint presented to the --car wheels is of about the same section asthat of the body or unbroken portion of thez rail, and this constitutes a valuable and important feature of'my invention.

33 represents a.- curved form of my outer splice bar asviewed in plan and 34 is a subo -stanftially straight line to which said curvedform of the splice bar may be drawn by means of the splice bolts, in order to tighten it very securely when yiirst applied, or to enable it to be tightened thereafter to pro-` 55 vide for-wear as hereinbefore mentioned.

and drawing. it: firmly;

and downwardly Il amI awa-re that splice bars have been proposed with'an outer head portion, `either straight, orwith inclined ends, or' with raised portions at the rail joint, on whichl the outer part of a car or other wheel is intended to rest inv-order'to carry the 'wheel over the 'oint in the rails, the idea of these constructlons--bein to prevent jar. vAs,- however, almostalIcar wheels are more or less *worn*a it 'follows that when the wheels are traversing the bod of the rail, they ridegenerally on their hollow portions and the downwardly" projecting outer part of the tread extends' beyond the rail. When wheels loff-this kind, which form practically all of the car wheels used, comel to a'rail joint of the kinds just described, they. will- Contact forcibly. withthe outer upper! portion' of the saidfjointbar, which forms, so to speak, an -outer'rail tread, with the' resultof producingia violentlshock at each joint,- and instead ofservingfthe purpose intended, of making-a smooth bridge, such prior-joints have precisely the-oppositev effect, viz-:-to produce a Vviolent shock, and in the case of joints with porti0ns-projecting above the rail tread, this shock; Occurs even wthnew, unworn wheels.` These ditiiculties are en-4 tirely' obviatedby means-of my improved construction,-due to the fact that the head portion of my--outer splice bar and the ad- ]oining'uncu-tparts of the rai-l head are the substantial equivalents, in effect, of *the original rail head The joint formed :by my construction-has, therefore, practically the same eict, as respects the car Wheel, as the body of' the-rail1itself, and at the sametime 'rovides a smooth bridge and passage for: .hefy wheels over? the joint, besides holding the rails properly .in lalinement.

I do-'not limit myself to a. splice bar, the

pper portion ofwhich 1conforms exactl to, rlonly.- restores the -cut away parts ofy the ail 'head,f-but'I may make said upper portion; of slightly greater widthl with outer side surfaces parallelv to the rail axis, or lwith the 'central portionthereof wider and thefendsof the' said sidev surfaces tapering, iff desired, to meet the corresponding outer snisl'acesv of the rail heads. In fact said upper portion'of my splice bar may be of any widths -orI form from lthat of the cut away parts ofthe rail to a'greater,width,' preferably, however, not greater inwidth than the groove or depression of a worn car Whee. The general shape of the groove in a carvwheel' worn to the usual limit is illustrated in Fig. 10, and according to my invention, any outer splice -bar the upper' portion of which `will not interfere with thepassage ofsuch a wheel, is within the scope ofmy claims.-

Although I have I shown my improved splice-bar with-only the intermediate portion thereoffprojectin'g upwardly and forming part of the rail tread and conforming to the original section thereof, I may also make the entire length of my outer splice bar of this construction and make the cuts in the rail heads of corresponding length, as will be readily understood.

Although I have shown and described my construction in considerable detail, I do not wish to be limited to the exact and specific details shown and described, but may use such substitutions, modifications or equivalents thereof, as areembraced within the scope of my invention or as/,pointed out in the claims. ,Y n ff I-Iaving thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. In a rail joint, a pair of abutting rails the outer sides of the'adjoining ends of the heads of which are cut away, an outer splice bar the upper portion of which is fitted therein and substantially conforms to the cut away portions of the original sections of said rail heads, the said upper portion tapering gradually from its ends to the end portions of the splice bar.

2. In a rail joint, a pair of abutting rails the outer sides of the heads of the adjoining ends of which are cut away, an outer splice bar the end portions of which are fitted in `the outer shing termediate portion of which bar fits into said angles of said rails, the incut away portions of said rail heads and substantially conforms to the original or uncut sections thereof, said intermediate portion tapering gradually to the'said end portion.

3. In a rail joint, a pair of abutting rails the outer sides of the adjoining ends of which are cut away, an vouter splice bar the intermediate portion of which is mounted in said cuts and tapers gradually therefrom to the ends of the bar, the wheell contact surfaces formed by said joint being not substantially less than that of the uncut rail heads, nor substantially wider than the groove in a limit worn car wheel.

4. In a rail joint, a pair of abutting rails the outer sides of the heads of the adjoining ends of which are cut away, the ends of said cuts merging gradually into the outer lateral surfaces of the rail heads, an outer splice bar the upper portion of which is mounted within said cuts sloping gradually therefrom to the ends of the bar, the upper or tread surface formed thereby conforming substantially in surface to that of the original rail,

the width of the tread at said joint being not substantially less than that of the original uncut rail, nor substantially greater than the groove in a limit worn car wheel.

5. lA rail joint comprising a pair of abutting a'lined rails, the outer parts of the adjoining ends of the rail heads being cut away, each of said cuts merging gradually from the rail ends to the outer lateral sur- `face of the rail head, an outer splice bar, the

upper portion of which fits .within said cut away portions and substantially conforms to the original section of the same and slopes gradually therefrom to the ends of the bar.

6. In a rail joint, a pair of abutting rails, the outer sides of the adjoining ends of the heads of which are cut away, each of said cuts merging gradually thence by a curve to the outer lateral surface of the rail head, an outer splice bar the end portions of which are fitted within the fishing angles of said rails, the intermediate portion of which fits into said cut away portions of said rail yheads and substantially conforms to the original sections thereof, said intermediate portion tapering gradually and merging into said end portions.

7 A ra1l joint comprising a pair of abutting rails the outer sides of the adjacent ends of the heads of which are cut away, an outer splice bar, the upper portion of which is fitted within said cuts and tapers gradually therefrom and merges into the end portions of said bar, an inner splice bar of angle form fitting within the fishmg angle of said rails, and means for securing said splice bars in position. y

, 8. A rail -joint comprising a pair of abutting rails, the outer parts of the adjoining ends of the rail heads being cut away, each of said cuts extending parallel to the rail axis and thence merging gradually to the outerlateral surface of the rail head, an outer splice bar the upper portion of which fits within said cut away portions and substantially conforms to the original section of the same,V and tapers gradually thence to the end portions, said end portions of said outer splice bar being adapted to fit within the outer fishing angles of the rail, an inner splice bar fitted within the inner fishing angles and adapted to coperate with the outer splice bar and the rails aforesaid, and means for securing and adjusting the same in position.

9. In a rail joint, a pair of abutting rails the outer sides of the adjacent ends of the heads of which are cut away, an outer splice bar the upper portion of which fits wlthin said cuts, and a slight distance or clearance between the entire inner side of the said upper portion and the adjoining surfaces of eut away portions,the end portions of said outer splice bar being fitted Within the outer fishing angles of the rail, the intermediate ting alined rails, the outer ends of each rail head being out away in semisegmental form providing together, a space of approximately segmental shape as viewed'- in plan, an outer splice bar having an upper intermediate portion fitted within said space and conforming to the original'seetions of 4the out away portions of the rail heads, the end portions of said outer splice bar being fitted between the rail head and the rail base flange, t-he intermediate portion extending in a curve and gradual taper to said end por tions, an inner splice bar fitted between the head and base flange on the inner side of said rails, bolts passing through said splice bars and rai-ls and provided With nuts for securing and adjust-ing the said joint.

In testimony whereof, I hereto afiix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

EDWIN E. SLICK. Witnesses:

.H. C. WoLLE,

Gro. THACKRAY. 

